For a lot of businesses there is a huge question mark associated with social media, and rightly so. Even if a business is using social media as part of their marketing strategy, it sometimes seems that the focus was not on the strategy aspect of the question. Many businesses have entered social media because "we can't afford not to". By not carefully planning your involvement in social media, it can seem that social media offers very little reward for a large amount of effort.

So what is a business to do?

For me it comes down to a simple process:

1. Clearly define the message you want to get out about your business or organization. For larger businesses or organizations this can include several brand messages related to individual products or services.

The important thing here is to be clear, concise and relevant. The message you used in 2012 may not be relevant in 2013 even as your business still provides very relevant products and services. When you think you've got it right - test it on your current "great" clients. Test it on prospects...test it on your sales team.

Ask yourself WHY...why is the message you think is "the one" relevant to your audience...are you sure?

2. Decide who you want to communicate your message to. What clients do you want to attract?

Who are your clients now? are they changing? do you have a new kind of clientele you are trying to attract? Where are you likely to find them?

This step may cause you to re-examine what you decided in step 1. If you are trying to change the type of clientele your business attracts - then you'll need to adjust your message to one that may not work as well with current clients.

Allowing enoough lead time for you to develop your social media audience so that a particular campaign will have the desired affect is a consideration especially if you are new to a particular platform.

4. Start to think about the HOW

This is really where you start to think about whether social media is part of your strategy. I emphasize PART of your strategy. I think it's becoming clear that social is both extremely important and also somewhat over-hyped The reality is that for some businesses being at least aware of how your brand is being both perceived and talked about on Social Media is important if not critical, but for others it may not be important at all.

By defining which message you wish to communicate about your brand, and when and to whom you want to communicate it to - you can then evaluate more clearly whether the demographics of a specific social media platform are right for your overall strategy.

Getting Brighter can help your company to evaluate how you are communicating what you do, to whom and where - call me today to learn more - and be sure to subscribe to this blog for more free articles like this one.